Hi Fi on Highland Ave, Manhattan Beach
SHARE
El Porto’s own Bojangles of the Comb
Hi Fi playing the comb was a highlight of parties in North Manhattan during the late ‘60s and early 70s. Illustration by by Omaha Perez (OmahaPerez.Com)
by William Beverly
There once was this cat who prowled the South Bay party scene in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. By South Bay, I mean mostly the North Manhattan Beach territory and limited parts of Hermosa Beach. This cat’s name was Highland C. Figh and his friends called him Hi Fi. They called him that because he told them that was his name. At that time, the term “Hi Fi” had a specific meaning that was generally understood by almost everybody in America. The term was short for “High Fidelity,” and was the phrase used to refer to the electronic device upon which one produced music by playing records. These were mostly mono devices and were later replaced by what we called Stereos. So Hi Fi, in a way, represented a fading t